Jaguar Land Rover has a dream of one day providing the driver with a full 360-degree view from the cockpit by making the roof pillars ‘invisible.’

The project is called ‘360 Virtual Urban Windscreen’ and uses screens embedded on the surface of each pillar displaying live feed from cameras covering the ‘blind spots’ obscured by the A, B and C pillars.

This renders everything around the vehicle virtually visible and to enhance the safety of both the driver and people outside the vehicle, the Heads-Up display combines the video feeds and tracks the movement of other road users by highlighting them with an on-screen halo on the car’s virtual windscreen.

It also responds to driver habits like when they move their head to look over either shoulder in preparation for overtaking, the system automatically makes either the left or right side pillars ‘transparent.’

“Our ultimate aim is to reduce road accidents and enhance the urban driving experience. The Jaguar Land Rover research team is developing this technology to improve visibility and to give the driver with the right information at the right time. If we can keep the driver’s eyes on the road ahead and present information in a non-distracting way, we can help drivers make better decisions in the most demanding and congested driving environments,” said Dr Wolfgang Epple, Director of Research and Technology, Jaguar Land Rover.

Jaguar Land Rover is also developing a ‘Follow-MeGhost Car Navigation’ as a navigation aid on busy urban roads. It projects an image of a vehicle in front of the driver’s car for them to follow, turn by turn to their destination.

“Driving on city streets can be a stressful experience, but imagine being able to drive across town without having to look at road signs, or be distracted trying to locate a parking space as you drive by. We want to present all of this information on a Heads-Up Display in the driver’s eye-line, so the driver doesn’t have to seek it out for themselves and take their eyes off the road ahead,” added Dr Epple.

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